El Chelelo, alleged head of CDG in NL, arrested in Merida, Yucatan during traffic violation

Yucatan.- Eleazar Medina Rojas, aka El Chelelo, was arrested in Mérida, Yucatán, after committing a traffic infraction. Later, he was identified as the alleged head of the Gulf Cartel in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

The arrest was made last Wednesday in the Montecristo neighborhood by elements of the Ministry of Public Security. They indicated that the man linked to the group of drug traffickers, presented false documentation to the police authorities.

The Chelelo had been previously arrested, the first time was in 2007 when he was sentenced to eight years in prison for being linked to the Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas, he regained his freedom in 2015.

He then returned to criminal activities with the Los Zetas group and was apprehended in 2016 during an operation. This would be the third time he is arrested, although he has not been specified, he will be charged with a similar crime.

The arrest was made last Wednesday in the Montecristo neighborhood by elements of the Ministry of Public Security. They indicated that the man linked to the group of drug traffickers, presented false documentation to the police authorities.

The Chelelo had been previously arrested, the first time was in 2007 when he was sentenced to eight years in prison for being linked to the Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas, he regained his freedom in 2015.

He then returned to criminal activities with the Los Zetas group and was apprehended in 2016 during an operation. This would be the third time he is arrested, although he has not been specified, he will be charged with a similar crime.

Re: El Chelelo, alleged head of CDG in NL, arrested in Merida, Yucatan during traffic violation

December 8, 2018. 9:16 pm
Judge frees "El Chelelo", but he is re-arrested

MÉRIDA.- A judge in Mérida ordered the immediate release of Eleazar Medina Rojas (a) "El Chelelo", who was arrested in this city on Wednesday.

They stop him again

Authorities of the federal, state and municipal governments in Yucatan set up an operation to capture him again with a provisional arrest warrant for extradition purposes.

"El Chelelo" is one of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel that was in Yucatan, a place that is disputed with the organization of the Sinaloa Cartel. It has accusations for the crimes of drug trafficking, disappearance of persons, rape, homicides and kidnappings.

Sources close to the process informed that the judge released him a few moments ago, but when they left the oral courts they arrested him again, this time for extradition purposes.

It was said that once "El Chelelo" was free it would be very difficult to recapture him.

The alleged criminal was arrested again after leaving the Oral Justice Center in Mérida , on whose outskirts there is a strong security device.

Helicopters from the Attorney General's Office (PGR) with heavily armed elements have arrived at Mérida airport.

Maximum alert

His transfer from the Mérida penitentiary to the terminal area is planned with military logistics, under strict security measures. Very likely to develop in the early hours of the morning for any eventuality that puts the citizenry at risk.

The authorities of Yucatan are on high alert . In the capital and some areas of the State where there is knowledge of organized crime cells, there is intense surveillance with patrols and armed elements, mainly in entrances and exits.

Re: El Chelelo, alleged head of CDG in NL, arrested in Merida, Yucatan during traffic violation

Evidence that Mérida has been a refuge for known capos of organized crime.

The arrest of Eleazar Medina Rojas, alias "El Chelelo", identified as alleged leader of the Gulf Cartel, is not the first of a drug kingpin in Yucatan.

According to the Diario de Yucatán archives, other leaders or relatives of criminal organizations in Mexico were apprehended in the State, particularly in Mérida, where according to some versions they establish the residence of their closest relatives.

As we reported, Medina Rojas was arrested on Wednesday, May 5, in a fortuitous manner, when agents of the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) marked the vehicle, a Chevrolet Cruze with a license plate from Quintana Roo, in which he was traveling. The routine review, according to the official version, was Calle 33, with 12 of the Montebello subdivision, in an exclusive area north of Merida.

Although he is mentioned as one of the heads of the Gulf Cartel, "El Chelelo" would actually be the second in command of Los Zetas, and he would have been previously arrested by the authorities.

The first time was in April 2007, in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and he was appointed as the supposed head of the Gulf Cartel in that border city with the United States, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison. The other was in 2016, a year after leaving prison, in a joint operation of elements of the Mexican Navy, Army, Federal Police and PGR, and he was linked as the number two in the structure of the criminal organization of Los Zetas in the northern part of the country.

Eleazar Medina apparently lived temporarily in Mérida under the name of Roberto Tomás Máximo, according to a false credential of the INE. At the time of arrest he was accompanied by his escorts, Sergio Vargas Dávila, Máximo Tomás Emmanuel and Valdés Ronnie Emmanuel, all with apocryphal names.

Merida, preferred place

Ignacio "Nacho" Colonel Villarreal. Photo Archive
In previous years, starting in the first decade of 2000, Yucatán has been designated by authorities of all levels of government as a trampoline for drug traffickers, but there is evidence that they use the State to establish themselves by seasons or fix the residence of their closest family

For example, evidences documented by federal and state authorities indicate that Mérida has been a refuge for other drug leaders such as Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel Villarreal (killed in Zapopan, Jalisco, on July 9, 2010) and Antonio "Tony Tormenta" Cárdenas Guillén (killed in a shootout with sailors in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on November 5, 2010), who had the highest ranks in the criminal organizations to which they belonged.

There is also evidence of the presence in the Yucatan capital of other capos with less popularity, but with relevant functions in their organizations, such as Rafael Salinas Cornejo, José Enrique Rejón Aguilar, Emilio Garza Báez, José Antonio Medina Castro (a) "Tornado", Miguel "El Güero" Rodríguez Olivera and José Antonio Díaz Pantoja.

Other patriarchs of organized crime in Merida

Miguel Rodríguez Olivera, an important part of the Sinaloa Cartel, and who at the time the United States government had on his blacklist and frozen his bank accounts also lived in 2011 in Yucatán. The capo, who was executed in a restaurant in Cancun, Quintana Roo, was a close collaborator of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera, today tried in a court of justice in New York, again exposed the links that the cartels have with Yucatan, since the assassinated resided temporarily in Mérida.

Miguel Rodríguez Olivera, member of the band "Los Güeros", all key collaborators of "El Chapo", had a valid driver's license issued in Merida and a membership card of an exclusive Meridano golf club. The subject lived in the city under the name of Miguel Angel Rodríguez Sánchez.

On August 20, 2012, Juana Raquel, Reyes Arce and 16 other Mexican people were arrested in Nicaragua, the police of that Central American country accused them of laundering
money, organized crime and international drug transportation.

The Federal Police made several searches on properties that Juana, like the Queen of the South, acquired residences and land in Mérida and other Yucatecan municipalities. He bought a house in the private Marseille, a ranch of 24 hectares in the municipality of Teya; also the premises 299 of the street 8 of the Vista Alegre district; 369-C of the 50th street of the Francisco de Montejo subdivision, and 569 of the 13-1st street with 72 of Pensiones.

Juana Raquel joined the IMSS as an employee of a beauty salon located on 9-C Street in the El Prado subdivision of the Yucatan capital.

Capos in other Yucatecan municipalities

Roberto Nájera Gutiérrez, aka "La Gallina" .- Stock Photo
In January 2013 the arrest of Roberto Nájera Gutiérrez, alias "La Gallina", in a place near Buczotz, caused a stir. The drug trafficker identified the livestock area of ​​Tizimín as a base for the money laundering of the Sinaloa Cartel, according to the PGR.

The drug dealer who entered as a rancher in eastern Yucatan, was accused of two murders and other crimes. Nájera Gutiérrez arrived from Chiapas to the State a few years ago and bought ranches in Tizimín.

In October 2014, federal authorities detained Lázaro Rivadeneyra González, alias "Greñas", presumed leader of "Los Zetas" in the Playa del Carmen plaza, Quintana Roo, in Pedregales de Tanlum, in the west of Mérida. The capture was made during a football match. The alleged criminal had his residence in Merida.

Facade of the house in the Mayan colony where Flavio Gómez, brother of "La Tuta", lived from last May. - Foto Archivo

On February 27, 2015, the Federal Police also captured Flavio Gómez Martínez, financial operator of "Los Caballeros Templarios" and brother of Servando, alias "La Tuta", leader of that famous band. Flavio and the mother of the leaders of that criminal group had nine months of residing in Mérida, in the Paraíso Maya subdivision.

Also in 2015, federal police agents arrested Víctor Aguirre Garzón in Chelem, alias "El Gordo", alleged leader of the Independent Cartel of Acapulco and who had lived in Yucatán for more than a year. Although these are some names, the list of some of the leading leaders of organized crime linked to drug trafficking could surprise